“My name’s Mick, I sing a bit”, Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall offers after introducing each of his band members to the Shepherd’s Bush Empire stage. “As you get on a bit you get by, don’t ya” he continues self-deprecatingly to an audience that largely reflects the years this group have been active for.
Simply Red @ Shepherd's Bush Empire
The Manchester hailing soul-pop band have been an integral part of the fabric of British contemporary music for three decades. All 13 of their studio albums (as well as two greatest hits collections) have peaked in the top 10 of the UK album charts, from 1985’s Picture Book which featured classic radio mainstays Holding Back The Years and Money’s Too Tight (To Mention) all the way through to this year’s Time, which was unleashed just last month.
And while the group’s line-up may have fluctuated over the years, with only Hucknall and sax & keys man Ian Kirkham remaining from their formative years, it’s clear that they still have much to share and that there is an enduring appetite for them to be heard. And so tonight, at the relatively tiny Shepherd’s Bush Empire in West London, Hucknall and co. are out, not to prove to anyone of their continued relevance, but simply to have fun and get their new Time-infused set polished before taking it on to larger stages.
Hucknall’s band of six take the stage before the crowd erupts into a fit of cheers as the main man himself appears, dressed smartly in a signature dark suit and sunglasses (to fend off bright spotlights) as the opening bars of the latest LP’s lead single Better With You ring out, the soulful easy-listening tune encouraging the crowd to sway along. The tempo shifts upwards, with funk bass and guitars thrown into the mix as a one-two punch from 12x platinum-selling 1991 album Stars are aired by way of She’s Got It Bad followed by Thrill Me, Kenji Suzuki’s rhythmic Nile Rodgers-style guitar funk lifting the former while Ian Kirkham’s saxophone parts elevating the latter, the sax-man given centre stage (and a double dose of spotlights).
2003 single Fake from eighth record Home keeps the tempo up, driving beats and keys supplementing Hucknall’s delicious vocals before Sly & Robbie Stone’s famous rendition of Gregory Isaacs’ classic reggae tune Night Nurse, which featured Hucknall on vocals, chills out the vibe across the Empire. More from Time by way of slow-drive tune Shades 22 is up next, the crowd frozen in delight ahead of smooth 1989 single You’ve Got It: “This next song was written by me and my late friend Lamont Dozier, one of the great musical geniuses” the band lead says of the Motown legend who passed away just last year.
Simply Red @ Shepherd's Bush Empire
“Are there any shepherds in the house?” Hucknall asks of the Empire crowd deadpan. “Strange description, no shepherds” he continues before taking time out to introduce each of the six musicians on stage with him, Kirkham introduced as “me old mucker” while drummer Roman Roth loses his title as “new boy” to keyboard man “Gary Peacock”, Hucknall later scolding himself for getting his new bandmate Gary Sanctuary’s name wrong: “I know I’m bad with names, but I think we’re going a bit far there.”
The biggest cheer of the night so far from the audience is elicited by the opening bars of smash hit single Stars, which has those all the way at the back of the Empire’s third tier standing and singing along, camera phones that weren’t out before quickly joining the throng of screens filming the performance, Hucknell thriving on the crowd’s energy for this set mainstay, taking time to high-five those in the front row and handing vocal duties over to them at regular intervals.
Your Mirror is one of a handful of opportunities for guitarist Kenji Suzuki to step into the dual spotlights – projected at increasing intensity from the venue’s balconies – and demonstrate his shredding abilities, adding a gritty rock edge to the otherwise keyboard-driven ballad.
“Track one, album one, isn’t this a lot of fun” the 63-year-old rhymes, introducing Picture Book opener Come To My Aid, the tune upping the tempo and having the Empire bopping as a driving beat underpinning keyboards and brass notes kicks off the 1985 single. Hucknell makes the most of the Shepherd’s Bush stage as his band and audience scream the song’s title throughout each chorus in unison, screams erupting as the heat gets the better of him and his jacket comes off.
The tempo is kept up as Simply Red’s 1999 rendition of 1966 Homer Banks and Willia Dean Parker-penned Ain’t That A Lot Of Love is shared, Kirkham’s sax front and centre once again. Funk-driven 2019 single Thinking Of You keeps those in the balconies overlooking the stage on their feet and dancing along but the heat is dialled up for the group’s first single, a cover of The Valentine Brothers’ 1982 tune Money’s Too Tight (To Mention), “Where it all began” Hucknall offers, dancing along with the funky soft rock instrumentation.
The hits keep coming as Stars track Something Got Me Started has the crowd chanting along with the tune’s famous chorus call and response “yes I would” they return to Hucknall’s “I’d give it all up for you”, the frontman offering his best dad dancing as Kirkham’s sax takes focus. The main set is wound up with the third and final cut from Time, latest single Just Like You, Lewinson’s slap bass driving the new album tune, multi-instrumentalist Kevin Robinson taking over vocal duties as Hucknall leaves the stage, followed at the song’s conclusion by his band.
Following the briefest of breaks, the troupe return for a trio of encore offerings, kicking off with slow-drive 2003 hit single Sunrise and continuing with Stars tune For Your Babies. Rather than closing with one of their own hits, Simply Red close out tonight with a tribute to the recently departed Tina Turner, an uptempo rendition of Ike & Tina Turner’s 1973 classic Nutbush City Limits winning the audience over. Notable by its absence is 1986 hit single and port from Hucknall’s first group, The Frantic Elevators, Holding Back The Years, but tonight’s hard to get into show populated by fans who had queued outside the West London venues for hours to get a spot at the front simply didn’t need it.
Following this solo UK stop, Simply Red ship out to Dubai for a date at the Coca Cola Arena on 9th June before a summer of fun across Europe, featuring a headline turn at Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and including 5 dates in Italy followed by a massive 13-stops across Germany!
Live review and photography of Simply Red @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire by Kalpesh Patel on 5th June 2023
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